A great post from AdventuresInParenting.org regarding your child’s safety on the internet. The whole blog post is worth a read, but this list about benefits of parents being online to understand what their children were into is a highlight:
Here are the benefits of being on the computer:
1. You might learn something. In case if you haven’t been around the World Wide Web, the computer has so much possibility. You’ll be amazed at all the useful applications of those SNS (Social Networking Sites.)
2. You might have fun. Just don’t get addicted to those games…
3. You might find some conversation starters with your child. Tired of the same old questions like “how’s school?” Don’t know how to get your kids to talk to you? Our kids say we don’t understand them. But if we can talk their computer game language, it will open up the communication channels.
You might be able to find an appropriate way to talk to your kids about the rights and wrongs of internet use. Being on those popular sites allows you to see what is influencing your child, and the type of moral decisions he is faced with on those sites. Now you’ll be better equipped to guide them to do what is right.
Do you follow your children on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc?
The Amber Alert system covers a lot of ground when it comes to letting the public know a child is missing, but what about avenues it doesn’t cover? Nate Ritter, a web designer and programmer, decided to add another link to the chain and with a little bit of skill was able to implement a missing children feed through popular social networking site Twitter. Nate explains how it all got started:
What was your motivation for starting this project?
Nate Ritter: Living in California my wife and I are used to seeing traffic warnings and alerts about missing or endangered children displayed above the highways.
After the California wildfires in October 2007 and seeing how Twitter could easily get information to people’s cell phones, I thought it would be great to have these kind of messages sent to the public. It would help notify those people who aren’t on the highways, and could probably be faster too.
I was also motivated because my mom’s sister went missing quite a few years ago and hasn’t been seen since. The technology at that time wasn’t anything like it is now, but there’s still some missing pieces even today. I just wanted to connect those pieces because I saw the opportunity to help people.
To read the rest of Nate’s interview, check out this site.
Statistics on children’s internet usage as reported in a study by Cox Communications and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children:
- By age seven, 60 percent of kids have been online; a number that jumps to 90 percent by age 9, the study said. Most tweens – kids between the ages of 8 and 12 — stay on the Internet for at least two hours a day.
- About 71 percent of kids age 11-12 have personal email accounts, compared to 42 percent of kids age 8-10. About 41 percent of older tweens use instant message; 15 percent of younger kids use IM.
- As for social networking profiles, many of which have age limits, 34 percent of 11-12 year olds said they had profiles, while 9 percent of 8-10 years old said they used the sites.
- 28 percent of tweens reported having been contacted by a stranger while online. About 18 percent did not tell anyone about being contacted, while 11 percent responded to the stranger. However, not many tweens reported actually meeting the people with whom they chatted online.
- 22 percent of kids said they have friends who have been bullied online.
Your kids probably love watching Cartoon Network, and coming soon is another great reason for them to enjoy it in the form of an online game called FusionFall. The game contains all of their favorite Cartoon Network characters including Ed, Edd and Eddy as well as Dexter’s Laboratory. Best part of all? The game will have built in online safety features to make sure your child is having the most secure online experience they can.
More importantly, to parents who may have concerns about safety while playing an online game with strangers, the Cartoon Network has now announced a partnership with a leader in providing digital safety for kids, Crisp Thinking. Along side this partnership, the game itself has been designed with short game missions and a reward system meant to encourage kids to make time for other activities off the computer.
We all know that if left unchecked many children will play on the computer far past an acceptable length of time, so anything that can remind them, even encourage them to step away from the computer is a great tool. And the fact that it is a safe and secure environment is even better.
As the numbers rapidly grow regarding kids with cell phones, parents wonder more and more what they can do to keep tabs on their child’s actions. Research indicates that 75 percent of 13 to 17 year old kids now have cell phones, and with that comes virtual communication freedom. According to the Boston Globe, there are several measures you can take as a parent to keep tabs on exactly what your child is using their cell phone for.
There is newer software that does essentially the same thing for text messages on cellphones. One of these services, called My Mobile Watchdog, insists on making the cellphone monitoring clear to the child. Another, called FlexiSPY, promises exactly the opposite, marketing itself as a way to either "Protect Your Children!" or "Catch Cheating Spouses!" The array of services makes it possible for parents to know exactly what their teenagers are saying and doing at most any hour.
The article goes on to question just how much parents should snoop into their child’s life. It is a fine line between trying to keep your child safe and losing all trust you have with your child.